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Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:04:28 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Andrew Hunt <andy () pragprog com> Date: May 29, 2007 9:32:08 PM EDT To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News
On May 29, 2007, at 5:09 PM, David Farber wrote:
Maybe because their education was complete crap?
(my background: I authored a best-selling book on programming that "filled in the gaps" left from college/university courses, and now I own a popular publishing company in the same vein).
A couple of points here.We do not need more "computer scientists." We need some, certainly, but not a lot. Some folks to teach, some folks for compiler design, and we're done. Most of what you learn in a typical CS curriculum is not actually useful in the day-to-day world of commercial programming, hence the OP's observation that "what they learned in college was crap." No, it's not crap--- it's just not applicable most of the time.
What we need are software engineers. Some colleges have started offering Software Engineering degrees which cover at least the basics of getting functioning software out the door successfully. Many of these programs are still lacking, but it's a start.
Noted professor and Distinguished Engineer at IBM Research Dick Gabriel has a great presentation where he outlines the relative effort needed to earn a PhD in CS vs. a MBA in poetry. The difference he saw was staggering: for a CS degree, he only had to write a handful of simple programs; for the MBA, he had to write a poem a day for a year or two, and so on.
I try hard to produce books and related materials that are actually useful to practitioners in the field, and every week for the last eight years I get mail thanking us for our efforts, and asking, "why don't they teach this stuff in school?"
And that's a good question. Why not, indeed? /\ndy Andy Hunt, Publisher, The Pragmatic Bookshelf Practical Books for Pragmatic Programmersweb: http://www.PragmaticBookshelf.com email: andy () PragmaticBookshelf com
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- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 01)
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- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 01)
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- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 02)
- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 02)
- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 03)
- Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News David Farber (Jun 03)